John Helmich plays along with Laura Carther during a practice session at Temple for the Performing Arts. Mary Chind/The Register / Mary Chind/The Register

Written by

John Helmich was 8 years old and growing up in Davenport when he took a music aptitude test at school. His school district featured a strong strings program, and Helmich was told he belonged there.

“I was like, ‘OK, whatever,’ ” Helmich, now 32, said.

And so it was that the seeds of a professional music career were planted. Not exactly the immortal, headlining stuff of King Arthur and Excalibur, but two degrees from the world-renowned Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., and multiple high-profile violin gigs in Des Moines don’t lie.

This guy has a special calling.

It’s not as if Helmich didn’t have other options, either. He graduated from high school with top marks in just 21/2 years and probably could have taken the world by the throat in any number of disciplines.

“I remember meeting with my high school guidance counselor and he said I should really be a doctor,” Helmich said. “I said I really didn’t want to. I couldn’t really imagine doing anything else than music. It gave me the ability to dream and to see outside of Davenport. I came to think as a kid that it would be so cool to play in a chamber music ensemble, and none of it seemed unobtainable.”

The resume bears that out these days. First violinist in the Des Moines Symphony. Chamber music faculty at the Des Moines Symphony Academy. Performer (the violin) in the Belin Quartet, the Des Moines Metro Opera as well as freelancer for visiting Broadway shows.

Were Helmich to live and play in a larger city, such a rich patchwork of opportunities almost certainly wouldn’t have come his way, he said. The focus would likely have been on just one musical endeavor, but one that could also be enough to support him on a full-time basis.

Not so here. That’s why Richard Early, the Des Moines Symphony’s executive director, said local supporters of music and culture owe a debt of gratitude to people like Helmich.

“John is the best of the best in Des Moines and the fact he is making a life here for himself in classical music is a marvelous thing,” Early said. “We are overachievers here in terms of the size of our market and it is thanks to musicians like John who make it work.”

Speaking of overachieving, Helmich’s master’s degree work at Eastman took a page from his high school playbook and packed two year’s worth of playing and studying into a single year. He even flew back to Des Moines on multiple occasions during that time in 2005 and 2006 to keep his seat during Des Moines Symphony concerts. He began playing with the symphony after earning his undergrad degree from Eastman in 2002.

Helmich valued what he had in Des Moines and getting his master’s degree was only meant to enhance that, not replace it.

“The opportunities I’ve been given here don’t come along that often, and those positions are very hard to get,” Helmich said.

Helmich also managed to find enough time while at Eastman to win a wife out of the deal, meeting Sophia Ahmad — a piano player — during his master’s cram session.

Eastman, often ranked first among graduate-level music programsin the nation, accepted only 13 percent of those who applied to the school in 2011. So when Helmich not only chose to anchor himself more deeply in Des Moines after his stints in New York, but also brought back another classical music all-star with him, it was a huge win for the local arts scene.

Jonathan Sturm, the 22-year concertmaster or “first chair” of violins for the Des Moines Symphony, testifies to that victory. He gave lessons to a young Helmich during the time between Helmich’s early graduation from high school and his departure for Eastman.

“He was an interesting student to me right from the very beginning,” said Sturm, himself an Eastman alumnus who now plays alongside his one-time mentee.

“He was very advanced and combined a lot of talent and hard work,” Sturm said. “I was quite confident John had a chance to succeed in his auditions for Eastman, and he was never somebody who I thought was a long shot.”

Other beneficiaries of Helmich and Ahmad’s presence in town are the aspiring young musicians who come to them on a weekly basis for instruction through the Des Moines Symphony Academy. Along with practicing two hours each day for himself, Helmich leads about 25 hours of lessons each week.

Helmich has taught Carol Carther’s 14-year-old daughter, Laura, for about a year-and-a-half.

“He has very high standards and promotes excellence,” Carther said. “He doesn’t let Laura get away with very much. He’s going to help you do this to the best of your ability.”

None of that should be confused, though, with not having any fun. Helping other people enjoy his musical craft, whether through instruction or performance, is the whole point, Helmich said, and the sound a violin makes will only find its way into a Justin Bieber future if mastering it doesn’t feel too much like work.

About that, Helmich is very serious.

“It’s called ‘playing’ the violin, not ‘working’ the violin,” Helmich said. “I will even get bored on vacation when I’m not playing because I don’t get to do what I love to do.”

TODD ERZEN covers young professionals in central Iowa. Have a story idea for him? Send and email to terzen@dmreg.com or call 515284-8527. Follow Todd on Twitter: @todderzen.